Case Study · Florida · Gas Station & C-Store · SBA 7(a)
Gas Station Feasibility Study, Florida — An SBA 7(a) Worked Case
This is how our independent feasibility study company and feasibility consultant team analyzed a new-build fuel-and-convenience project underwritten to an SBA 7(a) credit, from trade-area fuel and inside-sales demand through the debt-service coverage a lender must document. It is a representative, anonymized worked example of the methodology — not a specific client deal — set on a fast-growing suburban interstate corridor in a major Florida metro.
A hard-corner pad on a Florida interstate corridor.
A sponsor came to our feasibility study company with a ground-up fuel-and-convenience project and an SBA 7(a) lender that needed the projected cash flow independently tested before it would commit. The subject is a hard corner of roughly 1.6 acres on a signalized arterial feeding an interstate interchange, carrying about 32,000 vehicles per day, in a fast-growing suburban submarket of a major Florida metro. The build program is a 5,000-square-foot convenience store, 16 fueling positions across eight multi-product dispensers, and a co-branded quick-service restaurant (QSR) inside the store.
Because a gas station is a going-concern operating business rather than a passive real-estate play, the lender's question is not “what is the dirt worth” but “can this specific site generate the gallons, inside sales, and margin to service this specific loan.”4 Gas stations are also named special-purpose properties under SBA rules, which is precisely the condition that turns a discretionary feasibility study into an expected one on a ground-up deal.10 Our scope was the independent demand, capture, competition, and debt-service analysis that supports that credit, calibrated to Florida's demand tailwinds and its heavier insurance-cost drag.
Trade-area fuel and convenience demand.
The demand read starts with people and trips, not a capture rate applied to a traffic count. The three-mile ring holds roughly 45,000 residents growing about 2.8 percent a year, layered over strong interchange-driven commuter and pass-through flow on the arterial.
Fuel volume is the primary value driver, and it correlates with, but is not set by, raw traffic. The national average fueling site sells about 2,500 gallons a day, but the distribution is enormous: top-quartile sites move more than 150,000 gallons a month.6 A new, high-capacity 16-position forecourt on a 32,000-vehicle interstate-feeder corridor with a growing residential base, tourist and pass-through flow, and a QSR draw supports a stabilized throughput near 2.3 million gallons a year — roughly 192,000 gallons a month, a defensible top-quartile placement rather than a flat percentage of cars passing by. The inside story matters more to the credit than the pump: about 57 percent of fuel customers come inside, the average convenience transaction ran roughly $12.13 in 2025, and prepared food carries the richest margins in the box.4 On the trade-area population, commuter and tourist capture, and store format, the model supports stabilized inside sales near $2.4 million a year and a foodservice/QSR line around $0.62 million.
| Demand driver | Basis | Supported figure |
|---|---|---|
| Trade-area population (3-mi ring) | ~45,000 residents, growing ~2.8%/yr | Rising captive base |
| Corridor traffic | ~32,000 vehicles/day, interstate-feeder AM/PM | Primary trip capture |
| Stabilized fuel throughput | Top-quartile suburban site (>150,000 gal/mo basis)6 | ≈ 2.3M gallons/yr |
| Inside-store sales | ~57% inside conversion; ~$12.13 avg ticket4 | ≈ $2.4M/yr |
| Foodservice / QSR co-brand | Prepared-food, daypart, and tourist capture | ≈ $0.62M/yr sales |
Volume and inside-sales logic grounded in NACS fuel-volume distribution and in-store economics; see sources 4 and 6. Figures are illustrative of the engagement type.
An undersupplied corner as rooftops outrun forecourts.
Six competing stations sit within three miles, one of them within a mile, but the newest rooftops in the submarket are arriving faster than new fuel permits. The corridor is adding households and interchange traffic more quickly than it is adding forecourt capacity.
| Competitor | Brand tier | Forecourt | Distance | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Competitor A | Major-brand | 8 MPD | 0.9 mi | Nearest; dated canopy, no QSR |
| Competitor B | Regional chain | 10 MPD | 1.5 mi | Strong foodservice co-brand |
| Competitor C | Major-brand | 6 MPD | 1.8 mi | Cross-corridor, off-peak side |
| Competitor D | Unbranded independent | 4 MPD | 2.1 mi | Price-led, thin inside sales |
| Competitor E | Major-brand | 8 MPD | 2.5 mi | Grocery-anchored pad |
| Competitor F | Regional chain | 6 MPD | 2.8 mi | Aging site, trailing-edge |
Competitive set surveyed for the engagement; anonymized. Announced and permitted supply was scanned, not just the standing set, consistent with institutional site-selection practice.
Only one competitor sits inside a mile, and it carries a dated canopy and no foodservice program — a weak defender against a new 16-position forecourt with a co-branded QSR and a growing captive base behind it. The nearest genuine foodservice competitor (Competitor B) is a mile and a half away, off the interchange's peak-directional flow. A rigorous study does not stop at the standing set: it scans announced and permitted supply so the capture forecast is not quietly overstated by new forecourts the trailing data cannot yet see.4 Here the read is a genuinely undersupplied corner — rooftop and interchange-traffic growth is outpacing new fuel permitting, and the subject fills the gap rather than splitting a saturated trade area.
Florida macro: strong demand, real cost drag.
The state backdrop is a tailwind for an interstate-corridor fuel site, tempered by the most expensive property insurance in the country. Florida reached an estimated 23.37 million residents as of July 1, 2024, carries no personal income tax, and pulls new residents largely through international migration.
Florida is the nation's third-largest fuel-and-convenience market by store count, with about 9,730 convenience stores and roughly 9.4 billion gallons of gasoline consumed a year, and in-migration and tourism support per-site volume even as national gasoline demand runs flat-to-declining.89 Premium fuel corners in the state trade in the $4-to-$8 million range on a going-concern basis, which frames both the exit and the equity the sponsor must inject.9 The state also carries no general Certificate of Need regime for retail, so fuel-and-convenience supply is set by the market rather than a permit gate — and the offsetting reality is that supply can arrive quickly, which is why the competition scan reaches announced and permitted sites, not just the standing set.
The decisive Florida cost variable is insurance. Floridians pay roughly 2.8 times the U.S. average for property coverage, premiums rose 49.5 percent from 2020 to 2025, and commercial named-storm deductibles of 2 to 10 percent of insured value must be modeled as first-dollar risk rather than a rider — a drag national assumptions understate and one carried explicitly in this pro forma's operating expense.13 Two recent changes cut in the sponsor's favor: Florida repealed its commercial-rent tax effective October 1, 2025, and the SBA's combined 7(a)-plus-504 ceiling rose to $10 million effective July 4, 2026, enlarging bankable deal size.23 Florida also ranks third nationally in SBA 7(a) dollar volume and is served by two district offices spanning 67 counties, with Live Oak Bank the leading national 7(a) lender, so the 7(a) channel here is deep.215 Roughly 73 percent of Florida land area still qualifies as USDA-eligible rural territory, a parallel route for stations outside the metros.14
Why the corner captures the corridor.
Household income, daytime population, and growth all point the same direction, and the interchange geometry converts that demand into trips.
The three-mile trade area carries a median household income near $74,000 — comfortably above the level at which foodservice and premium-fuel attach rates strengthen — and a daytime population inflated by the outbound morning commute, the inbound evening return, and seasonal pass-through traffic feeding the interstate. The growth rate near 2.8 percent a year means trailing Census counts understate the captive base, and Florida in-migration is unusually lumpy at the county level, so a careful study reads current permits and rooftop absorption rather than extrapolating a boomtown rate.1
Geometry does the rest. The subject occupies the hard corner on the going-home and interstate-bound side of a signalized intersection, where peak-directional traffic decelerates and turns — the highest-conversion position on the corridor for both fuel and the impulse inside-sales and foodservice trip. A 16-position forecourt clears queues that would spill at a smaller site, and the QSR co-brand lengthens dwell time and lifts the inside ticket. The nearest competitor's dated, food-less site cannot match that capture, which is why the model credits the subject with a top-quartile throughput placement rather than an average one.
The SBA 7(a) structure.
Total project cost lands at $5.60 million. The 7(a) program can finance the business and the real estate in a single loan, which is why an owner-operated, special-purpose station routes here rather than to a fixed-asset-only 504.
| Cost component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Land (~1.6-acre hard corner) | $1.25M |
| Site work & utilities | $0.75M |
| Building shell (5,000 sf) | $1.20M |
| Fuel systems, canopy & MPDs | $0.85M |
| C-store FF&E | $0.55M |
| QSR build-out | $0.35M |
| Soft costs & contingency | $0.40M |
| Working capital & fees | $0.25M |
| Total project cost | $5.60M |
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| SBA 7(a) loan (85%) | $4.76M |
| Borrower equity injection (15%) | $0.84M |
| Term / amortization | 10-year term / 25-year amortization |
| Illustrative rate | ~10.25% (Prime + 2.75%) |
| Annual debt service | ≈ $529k |
Structure per SBA 7(a) conventions under SOP 50 10 8; owner-occupancy 60% for new construction; single-loan 7(a) cap $5M, combined 7(a)-plus-504 cap $10M after July 4, 2026. See sources 3, 10, and 11.
The equity injection sits at 15 percent, not the baseline 10 percent, and that is deliberate: SBA policy escalates the required injection for projects that are both special-purpose and, as a ground-up build, effectively a start-up, commonly to 15 to 20 percent or more.11 At $4.76 million the loan sits just under the $5 million single-loan 7(a) ceiling, so the structure works within one 7(a) facility without a companion loan — and the July 2026 decoupling to a $10 million combined cap leaves ample headroom for a larger corridor or a paired acquisition.3 On a 25-year amortization at an illustrative 10.25 percent (Prime plus 2.75), annual debt service is about $529,000 — the number the projected coverage has to clear. The study exists to support exactly that: the debt-service coverage the lender must document to approve the credit, tested against an independent read of demand rather than the sponsor's own projection.
Feasible and bankable, on coverage the credit can document.
The stabilized model builds gross profit from three engines — fuel, merchandise, and foodservice — nets a Florida-weighted operating expense, and carries the coverage to the SBA floor and beyond.
| Line | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel gross profit | 2.3M gal × ~$0.36/gal gross margin5 | ≈ $828k |
| Inside-store gross profit | $2.4M sales × ~32% merchandise margin7 | ≈ $768k |
| Foodservice / QSR gross profit | ~$0.62M sales × ~50% margin7 | ≈ $310k |
| Total gross profit | Fuel + inside + foodservice | ≈ $1.91M |
| Operating expenses | Labor, card fees, utilities, R&M, Florida insurance, property tax, G&A | ≈ ($1.14M) |
| Net operating income (NOI) | Gross profit less operating expense | ≈ $767k |
Fuel line uses a through-cycle gross retail margin near $0.36/gal (before store operating cost), consistent with OPIS/NACS; net fuel margin runs far thinner after the operating expenses shown, which carry Florida's elevated insurance load. See sources 4, 5, 7, and 13.
| Year | Stage | NOI | Debt-service basis | DSCR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Ramp (interest-only bridge) | ~$512k | Interest-only ~$488k | 1.05 |
| Year 2 | Building | ~$667k | Full amortizing ~$529k | 1.26 |
| Year 3 | Stabilized | ~$767k | Full amortizing ~$529k | 1.45 |
DSCR computed as NOI divided by the period debt-service obligation. See source 11 for the ~1.15x coverage convention.
The stabilized 1.45x coverage is the figure the lender documents, and it clears the SBA's roughly 1.15x floor with real headroom.11 By Year 2 the project already covers fully amortizing debt service at 1.26x. The Year 1 figure of 1.05x is intentionally near the floor — it is the ramp year — which is exactly why the structure carries an interest-only bridge through stabilization: the bridge covers the ramp, and permanent, fully amortizing coverage is measured once the site reaches its supportable throughput. Modeling mature-store foodservice margins in Year 1, or best-in-class capture on day one, is one of the most common ways these pro formas fail review; the ramp here is deliberately graded.4
On the equity side, the $0.84 million injection earns growing levered free cash flow — roughly $20,000 in the interest-only ramp year, building to about $150,000 a year once stabilized and net of a fuel-equipment capital reserve for tanks, dispensers, and canopy. The exit is valued on a going-concern basis, not a leased-fee cap rate: a station is an owner-operated business, and capitalizing a Year-10 stabilized NOI near $0.77 million at a going-concern overall rate around 11 percent — within the 8-to-12 percent range the market applies to owner-operated stations — implies a gross sale near $7.0 million, consistent with Florida premium-corner pricing, and roughly $2.8 million of net equity after selling costs and the outstanding SBA balance.9 Holding fuel volume roughly flat, consistent with durable-but-flat-to-declining gasoline demand rather than a rising-gallons assumption,8 the blended result is an illustrative levered equity IRR of about 20 percent over a 10-year hold.
Verdict: financially feasible and bankable. On independently derived demand, a stabilized 1.45x DSCR, and a ~20% levered equity IRR, the projections support the SBA 7(a) credit.
Independent demand, capture, competition, and DSCR stress.
The engagement was scoped the way a credit committee reads it. As an independent feasibility consultant, our role is to test the sponsor's projection against the market, not to restate it — the value of the deliverable is precisely that it carries no stake in the outcome. We derived fuel throughput from trip origin, corridor and interchange traffic, and the competitive set, then placed it within a defensible volume quartile rather than applying a flat capture rate to a traffic count. Inside-sales and foodservice were modeled on a graded ramp at through-cycle margins, not a capitalized peak, with the operating-expense line carrying Florida's elevated insurance cost explicitly.
The coverage analysis was then stress-tested. We ran the debt-service coverage against volume and margin downside — the two variables a station is most exposed to — to confirm the credit still holds when gallons or fuel margin compress. One scope boundary is worth stating plainly: as the feasibility consultant, we reference, but do not perform, the Phase I environmental site assessment; underground-storage-tank condition is a separate environmental professional's engagement that runs in parallel to the study.12 That combination — independent demand, capture, competition, and a stressed DSCR — is what lets the lender rely on the file.
Underwriting a Florida gas station for an SBA loan? Start with the feasibility study.
Feasibility Study Company prepares independent gas station and C-store feasibility studies for SBA 7(a) and 504 credits, built to the coverage standard your lender must document. A methodology briefing walks through the demand, capture, competition, and DSCR analysis behind a case like this one, calibrated to your Florida corridor, format, and insurance load.
Request a methodology briefingData sources and dates.
The deal figures are illustrative of the engagement type; the market data that grounds each dimension is real and sourced, drawn from our standing Florida, Gas Station & C-Store, and SBA 7(a) & 504 analyses and the primary authorities they cite.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 Population Estimates (Florida population 23,372,215 as of July 1, 2024; growth now driven largely by international migration; county-level change uneven); Florida carries no state personal income tax, as compiled in the firm's Florida market analysis.
- U.S. Small Business Administration state and district data (Florida served by two district offices — South Florida/Miami covering 24 counties and North Florida/Jacksonville covering 43 counties, 67 counties total; Florida third nationally in SBA 7(a) dollar volume in fiscal 2024 at roughly $3.8 billion); Florida Department of Revenue TIP 25A01-04 and HB 7031 (2025) repealing the commercial-rent tax effective October 1, 2025.
- U.S. Small Business Administration Policy Notice (effective July 4, 2026) decoupling the combined 7(a)-plus-504 ceiling to $10 million, the highest in agency history; single-loan 7(a) cap of $5 million under SOP 50 10 8.
- NACS State of the Industry data (released April 15, 2026): in-store sales $341.2 billion (23rd consecutive annual increase); fuel 65.0% of sales but 38.8% of gross profit; foodservice 38.9% of in-store gross profit; average convenience transaction ~$12.13; roughly 57% of fuel customers come inside; institutional site-selection practice scanning announced/permitted supply.
- NACS, “Who Makes Money Selling Gas” (2025), citing OPIS Retail Fuel Watch: gross retail fuel margin ~35.7 cents per gallon, falling to ~13 cents net after retail operating costs; Raymond James / OPIS five-year average 39.2 cents (gasoline) and 53.3 cents (diesel).
- NACS, “Who Sells America's Fuel” (January 2026): the average fueling site sells ~2,500 gallons per day (~82,000 per month); bottom-quartile sites under 40,000 gallons/month, top-quartile over 150,000; convenience stores move an estimated 80% of U.S. fuel.
- CT Acquisitions, 2026 Buyer's Guide (citing NACS 2025 data): well-run merchandise operations at 30–35% gross margin and foodservice above 50%, against low-single-digit net fuel margins; operator-level net profit of 3 to 7 cents per gallon; new-build cost context.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Today in Energy (April 2026) and State Energy Data System (SEDS) Table F10, 2023 vintage: U.S. motor gasoline consumption 8.9 million barrels per day in 2025 (down 1% year over year, 4% below 2019); forecast 2026–2027 declines driven principally by fleet fuel economy, not EV adoption; Florida gasoline consumption ~9.4 billion gallons.
- Matthews 2025 Cap Rate Recap, STAX Real Estate (2026), Retail Petroleum Consultants / gasvaluation.com, and NACS/NIQ TDLinx store counts: convenience/gas NNN cap rates from the low-to-mid 5% range (credit) to 7%+ (smaller operators); owner-operator going-concern overall rates of 8–12% and Gross Profit Multipliers of ~3–5x, or about 8x EBITDA for business plus premium real estate; Florida ~9,730 stores (third nationally) with premium corners trading $4–8 million.
- U.S. Small Business Administration SOP 50 10 8 (effective June 1, 2025) and 13 CFR 120.160(b): a feasibility study is discretionary but expected for special-purpose properties and ground-up projects; owner-occupancy of 51% (existing) or 60% (new construction); 7(a) can finance the business plus real estate in one loan; single-loan 7(a) cap of $5 million.
- SBA SOP 50 10 8; Bay Street Lending / Growth Corp: gas stations named special-purpose properties; equity injection commonly 15–20%+ for special-purpose and start-up projects; SBA/504 DSCR convention of roughly 1.15x or higher; change-of-ownership going-concern appraisals over $250,000 performed by a Certified General appraiser allocating value across land, building, equipment, and intangibles.
- SBA environmental policy (SOP 50 10 8, Chapter 5, Section E) and ASTM E1527-21: gas stations treated as a Special Use Facility; a Phase I ESA runs ~$2,500–$6,000 and a Phase II can exceed $50,000; the feasibility author references but does not perform the environmental site assessment, which is a separate Environmental Professional's engagement.
- Insurance Business America (citing a 2026 LendingTree analysis), Insurify 2026 home-insurance data, and MoneyGeek Florida hurricane-deductible analysis (2026): Florida property insurance runs roughly 2.8 times the U.S. average with premiums up 49.5% from 2020 to 2025; commercial named-storm deductibles of 2 to 10 percent of insured value modeled as first-dollar risk; the market stabilized after SB 2-A (signed December 16, 2022) but has not cheapened.
- USDA Rural Development, Florida and U.S. Virgin Islands state office, Gainesville (current 2026); USDA land-eligibility summary: roughly 73% of Florida land area qualifies as USDA-eligible rural territory.
- SBA fiscal 2025 lender data (Live Oak Bank press release, October 6, 2025; Coleman Report fiscal 2025 rankings): Live Oak Bank the number-one national SBA 7(a) lender by dollar volume in fiscal 2025; Florida 504 credits routed through statewide Certified Development Companies including Florida First Capital Finance Corporation and the Florida Business Development Corporation.